which may be termed 'political. risks'-may be important deter minants of investment. After taking such risks into consideration in the exploration and development stage, a firm computing the pres ent value of its probable income stream must consider several other factors. In addition to the current rate of production, it must con sider these: (I) engineering limits to the rate of extraction in any given period, (2) physical limits to the total amount of the resource that can be produced within a given location, and (3) limits to the availability of new petroleum sources at the same costs as at the present location. It might be useful at this point to note that the firm as an explo ration agent in South-East Asia operates largely as a contractor to the host government who has ownership and final control over the petroleum resources. The group of suppliers of petroleum reserves in the region is characterized by the presence of the major com panies, directly or through subsidiaries, as well as by many small er, and even independent, companies. Three major companies currently dominate exploration and producing operations in two countries-Exxon and Shell in Malaysia, Shell in Brunei. In Indonesia, Caltex and Stanvac dominate production. Outside Malaysia and Brunei the bulk of new exploration is conducted by relatively smaller companies side-by-side with the major companies like Exxon, Gulf, Mobil, Shell, and Texaco."

Since this new science is of an unprecedented interdisciplinary nature, the book does not merely take stock of its numerous ingredients, but also delivers their multifaceted integration.
The resulting master paradigm - the co-evolution of nature and anthroposphere within a geo-cybernetic continuum of processes - is based on a structured manifold of partial paradigms with their specific ranges. Most importantly, this serves the scientific foundation of a meaningful, safe and efficient environment and development management for solving the most burning questions concerning humankind and its natural environment.
The more concrete elucidation of the natural and human dimensions, as well as various attempts and instruments of integration are represented in the different parts of the book, while the didactic quality is heightened by many allegoric illustrations.

La obra titulada: "ni creacion ni evolucion" es un tratado sobre la "decodificacion del origen del hombre en la tierra." Mas que un simple libro es una tesis o teoria basada en un analisis logico, minuciosamente elaborado con el fin de demostrar el origen del hombre, de las razas y del tiempo. Se trata de una teoria seria y responsable fundamentada en conceptos y postulados que podrian esclarecer verdades que la humanidad desconoce y ha desconocido por miles de anos las cuales se han mantenido bajo un velo de misterio. Tratamos ademas sobre el reordenamiento del tiempo como elemento basico en la definicion del origen del hombre y de la historia. Es un tratado en el que el ser humano ha de descubrir su verdadera identidad como ser universal descendiente de extra-inteligencias desde antes de su aparicion en la tierra sin que haya pasado por ningun tipo transformacion, experiencia o etapa evolutiva. Esta obra busca dar respuestas claras y precisas a confusiones e interrogantes que la humanidad ha arrastrado durante toda la historia. Los temas a tratar son: 1ro. La decodificacion del origen del hombre en la Biblia. 2do. El origen segun las ciencias. 3ro. Origen de las razas. 4to. Codificacion del tiempo. 5to. Decodificacion del origen despues de los dinosaurios. 6to. Codificacion del futuro.

Characterising spatial and temporal variation in environmental properties, generatingmapsfromsparse samples,and quantifyinguncertaintiesin the maps,are key concerns across the environmental sciences. The body of tools known as g- statistics offers a powerful means of addressing these and related questions. This volume presents recent research in methodological developments in geostatistics and in a variety of speci?c environmental application areas including soil science, climatology, pollution, health, wildlife mapping, ?sheries and remote sensing, amongst others. This book contains selected contributions from geoENV VII, the 7th Int- national Conference on Geostatistics for Environmental Applications, held in Southampton, UK, in September 2008. Like previous conferences in the series, the meeting attracted a diversity of researchers from across Europe and further a?eld. A total of 82 abstracts were submitted to the conference and from these the organisation committee selected 46 papers for oral presentation and 30 for poster presentation. The chapters contained in the book represent the state-of-the-art in geostatistics for the environmental sciences. The book includes 35 chapters arranged according to their main focus, whether methodological, or in a particular application. All of the chapters included were accepted after review by members of the scienti?c c- mittee and each chapter was also subject to checks by the editors.

From July 7 to 12, 2008 in Zelenogradsk, a cosy resort on the bank of the Baltic Sea near Kaliningrad in Russia, the 1st International Conference "Atmosphere, Ionosphere, Safety (AIS-2008)" has been carried out. The State Russian University of I. Kant, Semenov Institute of chemical physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushkov Institute of terrestrial magnetism and radio-waves propagation of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Russian Committee on Ball Lightning (BL) have acted as organizers of the conference. Financial support was made by Russian Fund of Fundamental Research Project N. 08-03-06041 and European Of?ce of Aerospace Research and Development Grant award FA8655-08-1-5052. The International conference "Atmosphere, Ionosphere, Safety" (AIS-2008) was devoted to (i) the analysis of the atmosphere-ionosphere response on natural and man-made processes, the reasons of occurrence of the various accompanying geophysical phenomena, and an estimation of possible consequences of their in?uence on the person and technological systems; (ii) the study of the monitoring possibility and search of the ways for the risk level decrease. Discussion of the physical and chemical processes accompanying the observable geophysical p- nomena was undertaken. One can see from a list of the Conference sections that questions of safety took only rather modest place, so main topics of the Conference became discussion of processes taking place in the atmosphere, ionosphere and methods of monitoring these processes.

The environmental field is deep and wide. In the flood of information, how can people understand the underlying causes of what they hear about the environment from newspapers and television? This book was originally published in Japanese, with the aim of providing basic information about the ideas and methods to see and understand the interconnection between nature and human activities from a systematic point of view. The author subsequently prepared an English version of the same material for use as a textbook for the Global Environmental Leaders Program at Nagoya University, where he taught many students from Asia and Europe. The book covers diverse environmental issues such as climatic change, biodiversity preservation, energy conservation, and resource recycling. Readers can learn common methods of analysis and thinking to identify the core essence of economic and ecological interdependence, to look at problems from an overarching perspective, and to consider countermeasures to be taken.

This volume contains a selection of papers presented to the Fourth International Symposium on Environmental Biogeochemistry (ISEB), and a conference on Biogeochemistry in Relation to Mining Industry and Environmental Pollution (Leaching Conferenc, held in Canberra, Aust ralia on August 26-31 and September 3-4, 1979, respectively. The ISEB were established to provide "a forum for uninhibited exchange of information and ideas among the biological, chemical, atmospheric and geolopical scientists working in the common area of biogeochemistry, encompassing soil and other earth sciences as weIL as the hydrosphere and atmosphere," By linking the fourth ISEB with the Leachinp Conference the scop.e of discussions was extended to encompass the application of biogeochemical processes to the mining industry. This wide-ranging philosophy is reflected in the breadth and diversity of the subjects covered in this book. The published papers are expanded versions of those presented at the meetings. They have all been scrutinized by at least one referee in addition to the editors. About 20% of the contributions to the meetings are not included, either because authors did not wish to publish or because the papers were not accepted by the editors."

Fifteen years have passed since I was working at a dam site super vising grouting work. That was not the first time that I had to car ry out engineering geological investigations for several similar projects, which always included testing programmes to find out the permeability of the rock, and often I was in charge of grouting work. It thus attracted my attention when this particular grouting programme did not run as intended: most of the grout holes took only very little grout It could not be the aim of the invested work simply to drill holes and fill them again without bringing about any further improvement. Fortunately, I had the chance to be en gaged in many other grouting programmes in the following years and used all these examples to analyse as thoroughly as possible the permeability of the rocks being treated in view of their grout ability. The more I studied, the stronger my conviction grew that our rules which had decided the grouting of rock for many de cades should be developed further, and therefore I occupied my self with contributing some ideas for a new basis to investigation and judgment of permeability of rock and for a more adequate application of this technology."

Stromatolites are the most intriguing geobiological structures of the entire earth history since the beginning of the fossil record in the Archaean. Stromatolites and microbialites are interpreted as biosedimentological remains of biofilms and microbial mats. These structures are important environmental and evolutionary archives which give us information about ancient habitats, biodiversity, and evolution of complex benthic ecosystems. However, many geobiological aspects of these structures are still unknown or only poorly understood. The present proceedings highlight the new ideas and information on the formation and environmental setting of stromatolites presented at the occasion of the Kalkowsky Symposium 2008, held in Gottingen, Germany."

Emissions of CO2 have come to be regarded as the main factor in climate change in recent years, and how to control them has become a pressing issue. The problem cannot simply be labeled a technological one, however, because it is deeply involved with social and economic issues. Since 2008, the Global Center of Excellence (COE) program titled Energy Science in the Age of Global Warming Toward a CO2 Zero-Emission Energy System has been held at Kyoto University, Japan. The program aims to establish an international education and research platform to foster educators, researchers, and policy makers who can develop technologies and propose policies toward a zero-emission society by the year 2100. Setting out a zero-emission technology roadmap, Global COE promotes socioeconomic studies of energy, the study of new technologies for renewable energies, and research in advanced nuclear energy. A compilation of the lectures and presentations from the first symposium of Global COE held at Kyoto University, this book is intended to provide the impetus for the establishment of low carbon energy science to bring about harmony between mankind and the environment."

components dissolve. The alumino silicate minerals are the great example of the incongruent class, releasing Na], K+, HCO-, etc. ions in reaction with J water but retaining most of their atoms in re-ordered solids such as kaolinite. The karst minerals are all congruent in normal conditions. Incongruent solution of dolomite and precipitation of calcite may occur in some exceptional conditions mentioned later. The sample of congruent minerals in Table 3. 1 contains all the common elements of crustal rocks except Fe, and furnishes a majority of the common dissolved inorganic species. The range of solubility is enormou . Gibbsite is an example that is insoluble to all intents and purposes; even in the most favourable circumstances encountered on the surface of this planet physical processes will disaggregate it and remove it as colloids or larger grains before there is significant solution damage. Rock salt (halite) is so soluble that it is rapidly destroyed in outcrop except in the driest places; it is principally important for its role in interstratal karstification. Sylvite and mirabilite are rarely encountered and never in great bulk. They occur as minor secondary cave minerals (see section 8. 4). Gypsum and anhydrite are quite common in outcrop. Karst features develop upon them rapidly because of their comparatively high solubility. Limestone and dolomite are common in outcrop. Their maximum solubility varies with environmental conditions but never approaches that of gypsum. Quartzite and siliceous sandstones are equally common in outcrop.

Groundwater is one of the most important resources in the world. In many areas, water supplies for industrial, domestic, and agricultural uses are de pendent on groundwater. As an "open" system, groundwater may exchange mass and energy with its neighboring systems (soil, air, and surface water) through adsorption, ion-exchange, infiltration, evaporation, inflow, outflow, and other exchange forms. Consequently, both the quantity and quality of groundwater may vary with environmental changes and human activities. Due to population growth, and industrial and agricultural development, more and more groundwater is extracted, especially in arid areas. If the groundwater management problem is not seriously considered, over extraction may lead to groundwater mining, salt water intrusion, and land subsidence. In fact, the quality of groundwater is gradually deteriorating throughout the world. The problem of groundwater pollution has appeared, not only in developed countries, but also in developing countries. Ground water pollution is a serious environmental problem that may damage human health, destroy the ecosystem, and cause water shortage."

For the fourth consecutive year, the Association of Geographic Infor- tion Laboratories for Europe (AGILE) promoted the edition of a book with the collection of the scientific papers that were submitted as full-papers to the AGILE annual international conference. Those papers went through a th competitive review process. The 13 AGILE conference call for fu- papers of original and unpublished fundamental scientific research resulted in 54 submissions, of which 21 were accepted for publication in this - lume (acceptance rate of 39%). Published in the Springer Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Car- th graphy, this book is associated to the 13 AGILE Conference on G- graphic Information Science, held in 2010 in Guimaraes, Portugal, under the title "Geospatial Thinking." The efficient use of geospatial information and related technologies assumes the knowledge of concepts that are fundamental components of Geospatial Thinking, which is built on reasoning processes, spatial conc- tualizations, and representation methods. Geospatial Thinking is associated with a set of cognitive skills consisting of several forms of knowledge and cognitive operators used to transform, combine or, in any other way, act on that same knowledge. The scientific papers published in this volume cover an important set of topics within Geoinformation Science, including: Representation and Visualisation of Geographic Phenomena; Spatiotemporal Data Analysis; Geo-Collaboration, Participation, and Decision Support; Semantics of Geoinformation and Knowledge Discovery; Spatiotemporal Modelling and Reasoning; and Web Services, Geospatial Systems and Real-time Appli- tions."

Ayla Neusel The idea of holding an International Women's University ifu as part of the EXPO 2000'W orld Exposition was born in Lower Saxony in the mid-1990s. In 1992, Lower Saxony's then Minister of Science Helga Schuchardt had set up a Women's Research Commission that in 1994 presented its report with the programmatic title "Promoting Women's Interests Means Academic Reform - Women's Research Means a Critique of Science". A spin-off, so to speak, of this commission's was nd the idea of a women's university as an EXPO project. The 2 Lower Saxony Women's Research Commission (1995-1997) stated: "From 15 July until 15 Oc- tober, an International Women's University is to be Q~ganised offering an interdis- ciplinary, international, multimedia, postgraduate study programme". Initially conceived as a purely research-oriented university, ijiJ evolved into an academic project for women scientists on an international scale. The ifu concept was based on the (self-) image of science as an ongoing, evolving, forward- looking research project. The unique concept of the International Women's University as an academic reform project was founded on three key principles: 1. Problem Orientation of Teaching and Research The choice of the globally relevant controversial issues Work - Information - Body - Migration - City - Water and the idea of addressing these issues from the perspective of the natural and engineering sciences, the humanities and so- cial sciences as well as art, consciously focusing on questions of practical rele- vance, gave rise to a problem-oriented, interdisciplinary approach.

The second of the 1989 conferences in the Shell Conference Series, held from 10 to 12 December in the Netherlands and organized by Koninklijke/Shell-Laboratorium, Amsterdam, was on "Computational Fluid Dynamics for Petrochemical Process Equip ment". The objective was to generate a shared perspective on the subject with respect to its role in the design of equipment involving complex flows. The conference was attended by scientists from four Shell laboratories and experts from universities in the USA, France, Great Britain, Germany and The Netherlands. R. V. A. Oliemans, G. Ooms and T. M. M. Verheggen formed the organizing committee. Complexities in fluid flow may arise from equipment geometry and/or the fluids themselves, which can be mUlti-component, single-phase or multiphase. Pressure and temperature gradients and any reactivity of components in the flow stream can be additional factors. Four themes were addressed: turbulent reacting and non-reacting flow, dispersed multiphase flow, separated two-phase flow and fluid flow simulation tools. The capabilities and limitations of a sequence of turbulence flow models, from the relatively simple k-GBP model to direct numerical simulation and large eddy turbulence flow models, were considered for a range of petrochemical process equipment. Flow stability aspects and the potential of cellular automata for the simulation of industrial flows also received attention. The papers published in this special issue of Applied Scientific Research provide a fair representation of the Computational Fluid Dynamics topics discussed in the context of their application to petrochemical process equipment.

One of our most important objectives as hu have provided basic principles from scientific mans is to discover and pass on ways of living journals and books and summarized the expe with our environment. Every form of life, in riences of people actually living in earth shel cluding human, depends on nature's ability to ters. produce clean air, pure water and fertile soil In the growth and development of any field and to recycle wastes. It is our duty to live in a of knowledge, there comes a time when theory manner that enhances and preserves these nat requires testing, when concepts need to be re ural processes. Earth sheltering-the use of fined in the light of experience. Such is the case earth cover to moderate and improve living with earth sheltering. A good foundation of conditions in buildings-is an old but recently principles has been laid, mostly through the ex rediscovered technique. It holds much promise cellent efforts of such organizations as the Un for allowing us to use less energy and preserve derground Space Center of the University of more space for natural and human needs. It also Minnesota, the School of Architecture at Okla gives the individual and society alike a real way homa State University, and the many design to achieve self-reliance and independence from professionals active in earth sheltering. These limited sources of fossil fuels."

This book presents basic information on material science (geochemistry, geophysics, geology, mineralogy, etc.), interaction between subsystem consisting earth system (atmosphere, hydrosphere, litho (geo) sphere, biosphere, humans) and in earth-planet system and evolution of earth-planetary system. The nature-humans interactions are described and new view on earth, planets and humans (integration of anthropocentrism and naturecentrism) are presented.

During the past several years I have been engaged in applied research related to the stability analysis of slopes. This research was supported by the Institute for Mining and Minerals Research, University of Kentucky, in response to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, which requires stability analysis for refuse dams, hollow fills, and spoil banks created by surface mining. The results of the research have been published in several journals and reports and also presented in a number of short courses. Both the sim plified and the computerized methods of stability analysis, as developed from this research, have been widely used by practicing engineers throughout Ken tucky for the application of mining permits. The large number of out-of-state participants in the short courses indicates that the methods developed have widespread applications. This book is a practical treatise on the stability analysis of earth slopes. Special emphasis is placed on the utility and application of stablity formulas, charts, and computer programs developed recently by the author for the analy sis of human-created slopes. These analyses can be used for the design of new slopes and the assessment of remedial measures on existing slopes. To make the book more complete as a treatise on slope stability analysis, other methods of stability analysis, in addition to those developed by the author, are briefly discussed. It is hoped that this book will be a useful reference, class room text, and users' manual for people interested in learning about stability analysis."

The publication of this first volume on the Quaternary Period in Saudi Arabia marks a significant milestone in the study of this Kingdom's basic geology. It also represents a major achievement in international cooperation in scholarship. The study of the Quaternary Period of Saudi Arabia was first proposed by Austrian scientists and by the officers of the Austrian Academy of Sciences early in 1972. A meeting was arranged between representatives of that Academy and of the University of Petroleum and Minerals, in Vienna, during May and June of that year, and tentative agreement was reached on the details of this cooperative venture. An exchange of letters, 15th June 1972 from the Austrian Academy of Sciences and 21th June 1972 from the Uni versity of Petroleum and Minerals, formally recorded the basis of the agree ment and arranged for the first visit to Saudi Arabia of the initial research team and accompanying officials from Austria. This team was headed by Professor Dr. JOSEF ZOTL, of the Department for Hydrogeology, Technical University of Graz, the initial project director. Many scientists, administrators, and officials have contributed to the success of this fundamental research project. Their number is too extensive to mention in this Foreword, but the principal contributors have been listed in the body of this text in conjunction with the specific areas of investigation in which they participated. The enormous contribution of Professor Dr. ZOTL, however, merits exceptional commendation.

Mixture concepts are nowadays used in a great number of subjects of the - ological, chemical, engineering, natural and physical sciences (to name these alphabetically) and the theory of mixtures has attained in all these dis- plines a high level of expertise and specialisation. The digression in their development has on occasion led to di?erences in the denotation of special formulations as 'multi-phase systems' or 'non-classical mixtures', 'structured mixtures', etc., and their representatives or defenders often emphasise the di?erences of these rather than their common properties. Thismonographisanattempttoviewtheoreticalformulationsofprocesses which take place as interactions among various substances that are spatially intermixedandcanbeviewedtocontinuously?llthespacewhichtheyoccupy as mixtures. Moreover, we shall assume that the processes can be regarded to becharacterisedbyvariableswhichobeyacertaindegreeofcontinuityintheir evolution, so that the relevant processes can be described mathematically by balance laws, in global or local form, eventually leading to di?erential and/or integralequations, towhichtheusualtechniquesoftheoreticalandnumerical analysis can be applied. Mixtures are generally called non-classical, if, apart from the physical laws (e. g. balances of mass, momenta, energy and entropy), also further laws are postulated, whicharelessfundamental, butmaydescribesomefeaturesofthe micro-structure on the macroscopic level. In a mixture of ?uids and solids - thesearesometimescalledparticleladensystems-thefractionofthevolume that is occupied by each constituent is a signi?cant characterisation of the micro-structure that exerts some in?uence on the macro-level at which the equations governing the processes are formulated. For solid-?uid mixtures at high solids fraction where particle contact is essential, friction between the particles gives rise to internal stresses, which turn out to be best described by an internal symmetric tensor valued variable.

This monograph covers phenomena of deformation and machining of granular media: macroscopic particles of different size, shape, and surface properties which typically exhibit behavior similar to fluids, as well as the behavior of solids under deformation. The book analyses the behavior of granular media in soils, rocks and stones, metals and various synthetic materials, presenting a theoretical description, applications and understanding of basic phenomena in granular matter.

Reflecting the historic first European seismic code, this professional book focuses on seismic design, assessment and retrofitting of concrete buildings, with thorough reference to, and application of, EN-Eurocode 8. Following the publication of EN-Eurocode 8 in 2004-05, 30 countries are now introducing this European standard for seismic design, for application in parallel with existing national standards (till March 2010) and exclusively after that. Eurocode 8 is also expected to influence standards in countries outside Europe, or at the least, to be applied there for important facilities. Owing to the increasing awareness of the threat posed by existing buildings substandard and deficient buildings and the lack of national or international standards for assessment and retrofitting, its impact in that field is expected to be major.

Written by the lead person in the development of the EN-Eurocode 8, the present handbook explains the principles and rationale of seismic design according to modern codes and provides thorough guidance for the conceptual seismic design of concrete buildings and their foundations. It examines the experimental behaviour of concrete members under cyclic loading and modelling for design and analysis purposes; it develops the essentials of linear or nonlinear seismic analysis for the purposes of design, assessment and retrofitting (especially using Eurocode 8); and gives detailed guidance for modelling concrete buildings at the member and at the system level. Moreover, readers gain access to overviews of provisions of Eurocode 8, plus an understanding for them on the basis of the simple models of the element behaviour presented in the book.

Also examined are the modern trends in performance- and displacement-based seismic assessment of existing buildings, comparing the relevant provisions of Eurocode 8 with those of new US prestandards, and details of the most common and popular seismic retrofitting techniques for concrete buildings and guidance for retrofitting strategies at the system level. Comprehensive walk-through examples of detailed design elucidate the application of Eurocode 8 to common situations in practical design. Examples and case studies of seismic assessment and retrofitting of a few real buildings are also presented.

From the reviews
"This is a massive book that has no equal in the published literature, as far as the reviewer knows. It is dense and comprehensive and leaves nothing to chance. It is certainly taxing on the reader and the potential user, but without it, use of Eurocode 8 will be that much more difficult. In short, this is a must-read book for researchers and practitioners in Europe, and of use to readers outside of Europe too. This book will remain an indispensable backup to Eurocode 8 and its existing Designers Guide to EN 1998-1 and EN 1998-5 (published in 2005), for many years to come. Congratulations to the author for a very well planned scope and contents, and for a flawless execution of the plan." AMR S. ELNASHAI

"The book is an impressive source of information to understand the response of reinforced concrete buildings under seismic loads with the ultimate goal of presenting and explaining the state of the art of seismic design. Underlying the contents of the book is the in-depth knowledge of the author in this field and in particular his extremely important contribution to the development of the European Design Standard EN 1998 - Eurocode 8: Design of structures for earthquake resistance. However, although Eurocode 8 is at the core of the book, many comparisons are made to other design practices, namely from the US and from Japan, thus enriching the contents and interest of the book." EDUARDO C. CARVALHO"

In comparison with engineering, geology is a relatively new domain of know ledge. Man has been building almost from the moment he came down out of the trees or emerged from the caves. All of his structures were founded in or upon rock or soil. Before the end of what we call ancient history, he had learned a great deal about materials, mechanics, and structures. This empirical information had become an organized field of practical knowledge by the time of Leonardo da Vinci. Although both foundations and ma terials of construction were largely earthy, codified knowledge of neither one nor the other existed at that time. During the last two centuries, geology has emerged and has recently begun to take on a more quantitative aspect. A generation ago, it joined hands with civil engineering to create soil mechanics. Engineers began to apply the science of geology to foundations and materials with astoundingly successful results, and geologists began to acquire an understanding of engineering methods, applying what they could to their problems. Geologi cal engineering was born of this union. People of an older time employed stone and brick in construction, although cut brick and sawed stone were used more sparingly because of a scarcity in both suitable raw materials and techniques. They were used in Cambodia, for example. A material able to meet requirements was found nearby, known as itica culla. In India it was called vettu culla, but F. A."

Global environmental change occupies a central niche in the pantheon of modern sciences. There is an urgent need to know and understand the way in which global biogeochemical cycles have changed over different time scales in the past and are likely to do so in the future. Equally important, it is necessary to determine the extent to which natural variability and that induce by anthropogenic activities are bringing about change. A number of international co-operative scientific programmes ad dress these issues. Chief among them are the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and the Inter national Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP) for global change. This book is one of a series of IGBP syntheses drawing together findings in global environmental change over the past decade or so. One focus of IGBP activities is the System for Analysis, Research and Training (START). Co-sponsored by the WCRP and IHDP, START establishes regional research networks for global change science in developing countries, stimulates and carries out global change research in developing regions of the world, and builds capacity to undertake such research at personal, institutional and regional levels. Several regional global change networks have been established, and much regional research has been accomplished in the last five years or so. In this book, work relating to four of the older START regions, Southern Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, will be used as case studies to illustrate regional-global linkages in Earth System Science.